See, you must understand, I can’t work a 9 to 5...

Please excuse the Wycleff Jean lyric, but it seemed more appropriate than any U2 I could think of. Bono announced on an Australian TV show that the band would be back to Australia in the November timeframe. No definitive word on what that means for the rest of the tour, but I’m hopeful. I’m also hoping that Janean will be as amenable to a November trip as she was to an April trip.

Tour dates postponed...

From U2.com

08.03.2006Vertigo '06: Final Dates Postponed.It is with great regret that tour promoter The Next Adventure announces the postponement of the final ten dates of U2's Vertigo '06 tour. This action is unavoidable due to the illness of an immediate family member of one of the band. The effected dates are listed below.'Any fan of U2 will realise that this decision has not been taken lightly', said TNA President Arthur Fogel. 'We will announce further details as soon as we have them.'The effected shows, which are all sold out, are: March 17th & 18th, Ericcson Stadium AUCKLAND; 21st, Queensland Sports & Athletics Centre BRISBANE; 24TH & 25TH, Telstra Dome, MELBOURNE; 28th, AAMI Stadium ADELAIDE; 31st & 1st April, Telstra Stadium, SYDNEY; 4th, Nissan Stadium YOKOHAMA; 8th Aloha Stadium, HONOLULU.We'll bring you more news on U2.Com as we get it.

Baby don't fight / We can talk this thing through...

When I saw the Vertigo tour in Dallas last October, I loved the set list, but they didn't play the one song I wanted to hear the most. The guys sitting next to me were trying to guess before the show what songs they absolutely were not going to play. One said Miss Sarajevo. Another said Angel of Harlem. They were both wrong. Both songs sounded great!

So now is your chance to weigh in. Take the survey located here. I'll gather the results and post them on/around March 28th.

You’re the reason why the opera is in me…

October ’05 – Dallas. Vertigo. Went with my dad again. He flew to Austin and we drove to Dallas. What impressed me most about this show was just how much it rekindled my interest in the HTDAAB album. The album came out about a year previous, but the concert caused me to listen to Vertigo, Love, Peace, or Else and Yahweh like I was hearing them for the first time. Angel of Harlem (a song I’ve never really connected with) really rocked. As did Miss Sarajevo and Stuck in a Moment.

About Angel of Harlem – they hadn’t played this one at all this tour, but a fan in GA standing just outside the ellipse held up a sign with the chord progression of the song. Bono asked him if he could play it and he said he could. The next thing you know, the guy is on stage and he’s playing along, using one of Edge’s guitars. And he’s not bad. It was a really fun moment. They’ve also pulled people up to play in LA and I believe San Francisco in the latter weeks of the tour.

Oh, one other thing, there was a segment in the middle of the show that just rocked. Love and Peace or Else (with Bono playing a drum at the front of the ellipse, taiko style, with his “Coexist” headband on), Sunday Bloody Sunday and Bullet the Blue Sky. All supper energetic, aggressive songs urging us to think about our place in the world and how we fit with others. Songs calling for peace. Very poignant part of the show. “One” was also cool. I do wish they had played Original of the Species though.

I can't believe I get to see the show again!

Ramen, Ramen, Ramen.

When I think of Shin-Yokohama, I think of ramen. There is a ramen museum in there that I visited in 1995. I was in Shin-Yokohama for a conference sponsored by the US Government aimed at American university students doing internships in Japan. I was an intern at Sony Plaza in Ginza at the time. I don't remember a thing about the conference, but I do remember visiting the Ramen Museum and that I was just about the only person there. One of my sisters in law says that if there are not very many people at a restaurant, there must be something wrong with the food. So I didn't eat anything at the Ramen Museum.
Perhaps I will this time.
Here's a link to the museum's Japanese site.
English content is here.

Of science and the human heart / There is no limit...

Dedicated group or U2 Fans making origami cranes to signify unity during "One." Link is here.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/U2Japan

After the flood all the colours came out...

November ’01 – Austin. Elevation. Having graduated from school, we moved to Austin and my wife was eight months pregnant at the time of the show. The obvious joke is that our son likes U2 because he heard them play from within the womb. In actuality, he appears to prefer Moby. My dad flew down from SLC to see this show with us at the Erwin Center on the University of Texas campus. Our seats sucked. I vowed to pay the premium for better seats next time. This was after 9/11 and the song New York had turned into a tribute to those who had lost their lives, with their names scrolling by while being projected both on the screens and onto the crowd/walls/ceiling. Very touching.

April ’01 – Anaheim, CA. Elevation. I was knee deep in a school project when a classmate offered me a spare ticket to the show that night. I was late – missing the first few songs. Inexcusable! My wife was working late that night and didn’t even know I had gone to the show until she got home and saw my note. “Gone to U2! Don’t wait up.” She wasn’t too happy about that given that her birthday was the next day and she would have rather gone to the show than worked. The show was great. New York, Stay, and Walk On were especially impressive. The lighting effects during New York were cool, but they would be more touching in the Post-9/11 version. (Photo Courtesy J. Burton)

You know everyone in the world, but you feel alone.

This is pretty cool. A group of Second Lifer's have created a virtual U2 band to give concerts, interviews and the like. http://www.u2insl.com/
(I'm still going to Tokyo, even if I could get there in the virtual world.)

I felt the world could go far / If they listened to what I said

Ok, enough about food for now. Back to the tour history recap...
(Oh, BTW -- I'll have a few things to share in a day or two about my memories of being in Japan when Achtung Baby was released. Can you stand it? Can you hardly wait?)

May '97 - Salt Lake City: A decent show, but not great. We had great seats, but Rage Against the Machine was too loud and the people behind us wouldn't stop inching the chairs forward until they were digging into our legs. Rather painful. Someone put a big "2" next to the "U" on the side of the mountain. Cute! (The concert was held at The University of Utah's Rice Stadium.)

One thing I've been meaning to mention is how cool the music is that U2 plays right before they take the stage. For ZooTV it was "Television, drug of the nation" and for PopMart it was "Pop Music." Never had that tune sounded so cool!

More later...

Food post #2: Hashigo

I was fortunate enough to do a six-month internship for Sony Plaza in 1995. The offices were in Ginza, just around the corner from the Sony Showroom Building. One of the best things about working in Ginza was the variety of places to eat at lunch time. And nowhere was better than Hashigo. There are two locations. I prefer the one in Ginza 8-cho me for the decor, but the food is equally good in both.

The "must-have" at Hashigo is the dan-dan men noodle soup. It's ramen, but nothing like anything you can get in the states. The soup is thick and spicey and the green onion on the top is a nice touch. The meal comes with rice, all you can eat. I have made Hashigo my first stop in Japan on more than one occasion. Luggage and all -- straight to Hashigo. Tired, wet from the rain, and hungry, but worth the effort. I'm salivating just thinking about it.